Azrael
by Varyssa
Summary: Raziel is captured by the Sarafan where he meets the future of his own race. Chap 5 up plz review x
1. Chapter 1

A/N – I do not own any characters from LOK, but Azrael is mine, all mine mwah ha ha…well this version of Azrael is mine, there are many Azrael's scattered about the fics :) Meg will probably make an appearance as she usually does. This is written mainly from Raz's POV, but it was necessary to have bits of Azrael in it as well, it's not as bad as the 7th lieutenant for jumping (honest!) x

This is for Raven who I'm sure asked me for an Azrael fic at some point…hmmm…

This is set some years after B0, when Kain is in the process of raising the vampires and people still think the vampires have been eradicated, oh how wrong they are mwah ha ha.

Chapter 1 – The Mighty Have Fallen

(Raziel)

I shouted my disapproval as my body hit the floor. I had barely hit the ground before I was on my feet, rushing towards the door that was closing on me. I didn't make it in time and the heavy, metal door slammed shut as I reached it locking me within. I shouted again and kicked the door, but not even my superior strength was enough to break it open and it didn't take long for me realise I was trapped here.

I let myself turn and fall against the door, my vampiric eyes adapting almost instantly to the darkness of the cell. I looked around in dismay; I was being held in one of the Sarafan prisons after I had foolishly overestimated my abilities as a fledgling and challenged a gathering of their soldiers. I chuckled to myself as I realised the precariousness of my situation. I had been a vampire for over three years but was still considered a fledgling, my sire, Kain had taught me often enough that one of my age was still vulnerable and weak. I, like my brothers, Turel and Dumah was not to go out in the day or if did to be with either Kain or Megara, my sister. When I hunted, if I was inclined to hunt the Sarafan knights, I was to hunt the newcomers, the weak or the isolated, but I was only to challenge a fully fledged Sarafan knight if I was absolutely sure the victory was mine.

Now I had disobeyed the golden rules set down by my master. I had gone out during the day and not only had I tried to fight a knight, but that knight had been far from isolated and had called for enough backup to take a group of vampires let alone a single fledgling. I was reminded of the story Meg had told me of when she had been a fledgling, younger than me, she had challenged a Sarafan knight and almost lost her life. Indeed if Kain had not intervened she would have. Now, I was in a far worse situation, rather than ending my life they chose to capture me and lock me in here, while they decided how they would extract my knowledge. It was of no surprise to me that they were ecstatic to have captured me. My sire and sister had been hunting for years before I came on the scene and since Kain had raised my brothers and I, the Sarafan numbers had been slowly decreasing. Though they refused to believe vampires had returned, though they had no absolute evidence to the reappearance of vampires within Nosgoth, it was a suspicion that would have constantly played on their minds.

Part of me felt slightly embarrassed that I had exposed our existence to them. Kain wanted our lives to remain shielded from the humans so they could not hunt us out as they had tried to do once. Now, Kain wanted our existence to only become apparent to them when we were moving to conquer them. I dreaded to think what he would say when he found I had destroyed that part of his plan…then again I dreaded to think what he would say when I returned period…if I returned.

(Azrael)

My eyes fluttered open and I could feel myself being held between the two Sarafan who had been sent to pick me up. My head still throbbed where they had hit me and my legs hurt where they dragged behind me, against the stony floor. I raised my head, painfully slow to look at my captors, they were both familiar to me. I had seen them countless times when I was younger, among the many that would search my house and the neighbouring houses trying to root out anyone who may have been hiding vampires from their bloody campaign, but I knew of no reason why they should come for me now, of all times.

The two that held me now were far stronger than I, so I knew better than to struggle. Instead I took note of where I was being taken and let my head drop back down, partly from the pain and partly because I saw where they were dragging me to.

I was being taken to the main Sarafan headquarters. The place where all prospective Sarafan trained and enlisted, though admittedly since the eradication of vampires less people became taken with their cause. The building was still on an impressive scale though. The training area still existed as well as the largest vampire prison in Nosgoth, which one would think would have closed or been renovated, with no vampires to hold there why keep a vampire prison? The execution area, through which I was passing was still smeared with the blood of past exploits. Vampiric bodies still sent a shiver down my spine as I passed their impaled bodies, their faces frozen in the most horrified and pained expressions, an eternal testament to the Sarafan's '_noble_' crusade.

I was dragged within the building and taken to the Sarafan commander's office. Portraits of Moebius and Mortanius, the founders of the Sarafan and the beginners of the crusades hung around the room. I had had the misfortune of gracing Moebius' presence once before and I knew from experience he was in no way the noble and strong warrior that he was portrayed to be here.

The Sarafan commander, a tall, well built soldier sat behind a desk where he appeared to be writing details in some kind of log. He didn't look at up when I was pulled in, instead he finished his work, placed the book, carefully aside before he rose from around the table and only when he was standing the opposite side of his desk, before me did he look at me and speak.

"Well now," he said, smugly as if some grand scheme had come to light, "We know what you've been up to and what you've been doing, so why don't you come clean and we can punish you for your crimes?" his eyes bored into me. I glared up at him in disbelief,

"What crimes?" I demanded, feeling myself being released and pushed forward to face the commander, "What are you talking about? Why have you brought me here!"

The commander continued to look at me calmly, "Come now, we all know that your family were keen vampire sympathisers, during the crusades."

"Yes!" I snapped, "and we were imprisoned during the crusades for it. My father and brother was executed for it, that was all years ago, why have you brought me here now."

"I have reason to believe that you have been helping vampires," the commander said. He still remained smooth and calm, leaning coolly against his desk, watching my confusion and anger.

"When!" I demanded, "You of all people should know there haven't been vampires in these parts for years, I admit we helped vampires then, but my family was punished for it and myself and my mother were granted anonymity when we were released after the crusades ended." I tried to understand what he was saying. It was true; my family, living in Nachtholm, had been one of the most prominent vampire sympathisers during the crusade, but we had paid the price for it and worst of all we had failed. Our attempts came to nothing the day the last vampire, Vorador, had his head off. But this had all been years ago and since then my mother and I had moved to Uschtenheim to start afresh, I had been returning to Nachtholm on business when I had been picked up by the Sarafan. I had had no contact with vampires since before we were arrested months before Vorador's execution. Besides, vampires had been totally eliminated, how could I have had any contact with any of them?

I didn't like the way the commander was looking at me. He had some kind of smug, evil smirk on his face. "So you say, you haven't been in contact with vampires?" he asked, slowly.

I glared at him, struggling to grasp what he was saying and it didn't help that my head was throbbing from where they had hit me. "How could I have? You killed them all remember?" I snapped, though I realised my choice of words more than revealed my resentment to them. Hardly the best thing I could have done right now.

"See if we can jog his memory," the commander said, no longer addressing me. I felt the arms of my initial captors come about me once more, "Take him to his friend," came the order. I had no idea what he meant and I didn't have time to protest as the two dragged me, forcefully from the room and down the corridor toward the cells. I recognised the way and part of me was lost in memories as I thought of how years ago I had been dragged down the same path. Some things had changed, last time I was struggling, last time the prison was filled with the screams of tortured vampires and human sympathisers, this time the way was silent and I knew from experience not to struggle.

Ironically they took me to the same cell. I don't know whether even they realised it, it was probably more for convenience and ease as it was the first cell to come to. Unlike last time where they opened the door and took me in to ensure I was…comfortable, this time they took me right to the door before they opened it. The door was opened just a split seconded as they opened it, shoved me through it and slammed it shut after me.

I steadied myself and looked back at the door, somewhat bewildered at their haste. I took this opportunity to finally massage the bump where I had been hit and I sat against the wall, looking around.

I froze as a growl resonated throughout the cell. My eyes darted around the cell and then I saw him. In the corner of the cell, opposite me, sitting against the wall, glaring at me, fangs bared was against all odds and defying history was a vampire.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

(Raziel)

I didn't move or fall upon him as they may have expected despite my hunger. He was no doubt a trap, they may have injected him with a slow acting poison to kill me when I had fed from him, such things had been done in the past. They would probably wish me to talk, to reveal the secrets of my existence, long after vampires were thought to be extinct. They would hear about Kain and Meg and how we had come to be…but not through me, I vowed, not through me and this bait.

I stared at the human who didn't seem to notice me for the time. I couldn't tell whether this was genuine or part of an act on his part, maybe he was willing to give up his life for the cause, maybe he was not, it made no difference to me, he was still bait.

When he did see me however he froze. Not in the way most do though. People generally accept that the vampires were wiped out years ago and so when they see us they freeze in a sort of disbelieving horror as if a nightmare had become a reality and they were forced to let it play out, let it play its course. Yet this human regarded me now…with confusion, but most surprising of all, there was not a shred of fear behind his eyes. Where most people thought of how they could escape with their lives he appeared to be thinking how this were possible, I don't think he ever really thought about what I could do to him, or even what I would like to do to him, I was hungry after all.

He opened his mouth to speak a few times, but closed it subsequently, as though he couldn't quite put his thoughts into words, I admit he was starting to irritate me. "Vampire?" he asked suddenly, "you're a vampire?"

I considered him for a moment, there was no falsity here, he clearly had no clue as to who I was or how it was I got there, not a willing sacrifice if the hunters I decided, I bared my fangs in response, again surprised to see he did not even flinch, instead he looked relieved.

Relieved?! Yes he was smiling! I could have bitten him right there and then for his impudence, one does not smile at a vampire, one begs for mercy or sobs or screams for help, smiling was a new one on me.

"Are there more of you?" he asked, eagerly and there was a glimmer of what seemed to be hope behind those eyes. I was at a loss, he was an enigma to me. He was almost happy to be thrown into a cell with a creature likely to kill him in an instant for his own survival and yet he was excited at the prospect of there being more!

I would have answered him honestly, indeed I almost did but this may have been trickery on their behalf. Even so I sensed that he posed me no threat and my senses had usually proved right (save for the one that landed me here in the first place). "Yes," I said dismissively, Kain had told me that they had an idea that we were in the world somewhere so I didn't feel as though I was betraying my sire and sister.

"Now I understand," he said to himself rather to me, "they found a vampire, so naturally they would come for me…" he was muttering rapidly to himself as if he were working things through for his own benefit though with my acute senses I could hear every word as if he were speaking as clear as day.

I allowed this rambling to continue for a moment or two before I interrupted, "What are you talking about?" I asked, not expecting an answer, but he looked at me as no one had ever or would ever look at me again; he looked at me not as though I was a danger or even as if I were nothing to me; he looked at me as an equal and in all my following years as Kain's right hand that look stayed with me…no one would ever look at me like that again except him.

"I couldn't figure out why they had brought me here. They said I had been conspiring with vampires, so I said that vampires were no more…which is what I thought until about two minutes ago. Obviously they thought I had been helping you get around or something similar." He could see from my face that I was getting as confused as he was right about now so he pressed on, "You see during the purges, when the hunters were out in force against the vampires with Moebius as their leader, my family was one of the few vampire sympathisers. We hid hiding vampires from the hunters and helped them in any way we could…of course eventually they were found and all of us who had been helping them were imprisoned or put to death."

I raised my eyebrow, "and you survived?" I asked, not even bothering to hide my mistrust. I thought he would have cut a deal with the guards or protested his innocence to the point they let him free again, instead he replied, 'yes,' shortly and nothing more was said on the subject.

"How did the vampires survive?" he asked me, still unable to figure it out, but I said nothing, I didn't trust him enough to grace him with an answer. He waited patiently for an answer that never came and though he looked put out at not receiving any, he let it go and didn't ask again.

We sat in silence for a while, only interrupted by the chat and the laughter of the guards that patrolled the corridor. There were no more questions, he probably had a thousand of them floating around his head but he kept a polite silence.

I don't know how long we had been in there for before the door was forced open and two guards came in, they kept their eyes on me but it wasn't me they wanted. They went straight for the man, another guard stood in the doorway to ensure I didn't take advantage of the open door. I let them take him thinking that they would probably question him about his discourse with myself and this violent treatment of him was for my benefit. When they brought him back I learned how wrong I was.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

(Raziel)

They threw him back into the cell after a few hours. Without ceremony, they just opened the door and threw him in, he landed with a dead thud in front of me and didn't move. I thought this might be more trickery on their behalf maybe he would attempt assassination when I reached out to him or maybe he had some kind of drug in his blood that would have me singing to the hillsides and talking like a madman; divulging all my dark secrets and betraying my sire, if I were to drink from him.

But it soon became clear that he was not lying there waiting for me to pounce. His breathing was slow and shallow and settled into such a rhythm he could not possibly be pretending. Even so I was still wary and even after I decided to approach I kicked him first so that he rolled over onto his back; that way if he tried anything then I would be better prepared for it. When I saw his face I could not suppress a gasp.

He had certainly received a beating and it had extended far beyond simply creating a deception for me. His right eye was swollen to ridiculous proportions, his cheekbones were broken as was his nose, there were cuts everywhere allowing a veritable feast for me and it was all I could do not to bite him there and then. The flow of blood was inviting and intoxicating and I was so hungry, so very, very hungry.

I would not let them defeat me. I would not feed from this man not even if they slit his neck in front of me and let the blood flow like a river. They would not make me submit. So I opted to help the man instead. It would confuse and bewilder them to think that a vampire was helping a human on top of that there was the small pang of debt lurking in the dark recesses of my mind. I felt as though I owed him something; if his story had been true then he had risked his own life to help my kind in the past and so he was no ordinary human. The hunters' treatment of him suggested that his story was true apart from his beating they made no attempt to feed him or nurse him so his death would not have pained them. Had he been working for them then they would have attempted to prolong his life to gain more information from me.

I felt the eyes of a guard fall upon me and I knew my actions had attracted their attention and he watched intently, waiting to see me bite the man and drain him of his remaining blood. Instead, I used a trick that Meg had taught me to conceal wounds. I knelt down beside him and pierced my right wrist with my sharpened thumb nail. I let the blood drip onto one of his wounds and I drew the droplets into a line covering the cut. We used this when we needed to feed bu tdetection would be inadvisable. We would drink from the body and then seal up the wounds to further protect our identity. In no time at all the self healing ability melded into my blood knitted the skin together and healed his wound at least superficially. I heard the guard murmur something and he hurried away no doubt amazed and confused by my actions. I paid no heed and repeated the process until all the wounds were healed but for the broken bones and bruises I could do nothing but at least he would not bleed to death.

I now found that I had probably made my own problem worse. I had used my blood to heal my companion and so I hungered even more, there was a puddle of blood around his body and I found myself fighting the urge to feed. He would not survive if I drained him even a little to sustain myself and so I resolved not to do it. Why by the dark I cared so much for one pitiful human I will never know but there was something there that compelled me to protect him. I edged away from him, returning to the corner where I had sat since I arrived. The blood was less inviting from over here where, although I could smell it, it was not as strong and I could consider other things in the hope of ignoring my hunger.

My friend did not move for another hour or so and when he did it pained him greatly. He groaned before anything and then opened his eyes without moving. "Ow," he gasped, I could only imagine the pain his mortal body was going through despite my efforts. He rolled over and pulled himself to the other side of the cell so he could rest against the wall.

"Are you alright?" I asked before I could stop myself. He turned his face to me so he could look at me with his good eye.

"Can't say I'm alright, but I suppose I'll live," he let himself relax where he sat and seemed to be trying to pinpoint where the pain came from. "I thought it would be worse than this," he murmured looking at his hands that had been cut quite badly. I didn't tell him that I had healed him with my own blood. I nodded but soon regretted it, my head was starting to feel light from the lack of blood but I would not let him see it.

"What happened?" I asked him, wondering what he had done to warrant such treatment.

He looked as though for a moment he couldn't quite remember what I was talking about, but his expression became strained as the memories hit him. "They were asking me about you, they wanted to know everything about you. Your name, where you came from, how long I've known about you, how many more of you there are…"

I cut him off, "What did you tell them?"

His eyes darted at me for a split second, "I didn't. I told them nothing, I wouldn't have told them even if I'd known the answers."

I doubted that his silence was because of his resolve, more likely he didn't answer because he simply couldn't.

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"Is that so?" the leader murmured smiling to himself. The guard nodded, pleased with himself that it should be he who delivers this vital information. "We can use this," he said, smiling on the guard, "You have done well. Come follow me."

The guard nodded and followed his master out of the door and down the hall towards the cell.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Azrael)

He heard them coming before I did. His head turned to the side slightly and he stared at the door waiting for them. I heard their footsteps not long after this. There were about four of them and they all came to a halt outside the cell door. I rolled my eyes and my wounds throbbed in remembrance of the last time they came for us. The door opened and my vampire friend turned his face away in disdain for them. As always one stood guard and watched my cellmate intently, his hand never too far away from his blade.

I groaned as one of them dragged me to the door, they had only just brought me back from a beating, what more could they learn from me? But this time they did not take me away to a different cell instead I found myself thrown up against the opposite wall and the door was pulled shut. I could still see my friend through the barred hole in the door, he was looking up at us now, intrigued and curious as to what they'd do next.

The answer was ramming a fist into my gut.

I couldn't cry out instead the wind was blown out of me and I hadn't had time to recover before the next blow came. I felt myself crumple to the ground but I was soon picked up again and pinned against the wall.

The leader, the man who has questioned me earlier today as well as when I first came to the prison stood at the door, "Tell me your name vampire," he asked calmly. I saw my friend smirk to himself as if he found their antics not worthy of his attention. My friend said nothing and kept his face turned away and so I was rewarded with another blow. "Tell me your name," the man repeated his question just as calmly and he had caught the vampire's attention, he was looking at me with a strange expression, I could see him considering this scenario. The hunters were too wary of vampires to take him out of the cell lest he turned on them and escaped, instead they were using me as a way to get to him. I couldn't think why, he was a vampire and I was a human it wasn't as if he had any particular liking for me.

Another punch to the stomach, I spluttered, spraying the floor with spit flecked with blood. "Come now vampire, you saved him once, why do you not do so again?" I looked up at my friend who was now fixing his eyes on my pained expression. Another punch and I could feel myself falling despite being held up. The darkness seeped into my vision and I felt a warm relief at the thought of giving in to it. Through the hazy state my head was in I heard my friend mutter, "Raziel, my name is Raziel."

The hunter smiled at his triumph and nodded for them to return me to the cell. The door opened and I saw Raziel rise and bare his fangs at the men. One of them drew their swords but he just snarled at them, he just meant to intimidate them.

They left quickly leaving me in a heap on the floor, I was still coughing and spluttering. Raziel moved beside me to help me up, I felt his hand grip my arm and move me into a sitting position. I looked up at him even though he was swimming in and out of focus as I felt myself fighting unconsciousness. He cursed the hunters under his breath and I was touched that he was concerned for me. "Azrael," I muttered.

He frowned, "No, Raziel, my name is Raziel."

I chuckled at the similarity, "I know, my name is Azrael." He also smiled at the irony, our names were almost a perfect anagram of the other. I lifted my hand and held it out to him, he looked down at it for a moment before he took it in his own and shook it. The hunters may have felt that they had found a weak spot in my companion in his concern for me, but their actions had forged what would be a long, deep and eternal friendship and ultimately their own demise.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

(Raziel)

"Stop moving!" I snapped, this human was truly intolerable.

"But you're hurting me," came the swift reply, "you're tying them too tight!"

I rolled my eyes and sighed, exasperated but nevertheless I continued with my task. I was trying to dress Azrael's wounds with bandages I had made from tearing the shirt he had been wearing. I could not risk using Megara's trick again, not while I was already so weak. It was already taking all the willpower I had not to feed from him and be done.

Finally it was done and I collapsed against the wall surprisingly exhausted by my efforts. Azrael pulled himself up into a sitting position and looked at me. I could see that his eyes were having trouble focusing on me; he was obviously still reeling from the beating that they had given him on my behalf. He dragged himself across the floor to sit next to me which probably did more harm than good. I was trying to convince every instinct and reflex I possessed not to go for the neck of this man.

"We need to escape," he said simply and I could have slapped my hand to my head with his stupidity.

"A genius walks among us, I know we need to escape but how do you propose we do such a thing?" We sighed in unison for we knew that such a thing was barely possible.

"I have…one idea," Azrael muttered hesitantly. I raised an eyebrow as he leaned in to whisper the plan directly into my ear. It was a good plan and he had evidently thought about it, he would distract (somehow) the guard and once the door was open I would be able to take him from behind feeding and killing him so we could get out of the cell. Once there we just had to make a run for it and hope that we only met the minimum of guards. There was something in this, it was night time and the majority of the hunters would be out on patrol particularly after their renewed confidence that they would find something.

Despite his careful planning I could not help but voice my concerns, "I don't think I could take out the guard," I muttered, "Right now I don't think I can stand."

Azrael smirked, "I know, I've thought about that too." He pointed to his neck, "Take what you need from me and then the rest you can take for the guard."

I slapped his hand away from his neck harshly, "Don't be a damned fool," I hissed, "Do you have any idea what you're asking?"

He glared at me, "Of course I do," he snapped and again he pointed his neck, "look!" I struggled against the opportunity to drive my fangs into him and I followed the point of his finger. Even in the darkness I could see two pinpricks where his main artery was; I would not be the first to have fed from him. "I know what I'm letting myself in for. I know it hurts…for a while. I also know that I am not going to be able to fight my way out of here, but you on the other hand. You're my best chance of getting out of here alive."

I frowned, "why do you trust me to get you out too? I'd stand a much better chance of getting out of here alone."

"Well…" he shrugged, "that's a chance I'll have to take."

I couldn't stand it any longer and I gave into my most natural urge. His blood tasted sweeter than any I had ever tasted, of course that was because I had never gone this long without feeding before and I had to stop for a moment not to over indulge. I would have gladly drank him to death but somehow I managed to overcome my instinct and I pulled away from him, it didn't take me long to realize I'd taken too much. He was unconscious against the wall and from the looks of him he wouldn't be waking up any time soon. I cursed myself for not being able to hold off but the damage was done. My mind raced as I tried to think of a way out of this dilemma, but then it came to me.

* * *

The guard had been sitting outside the vampire's cell for what seemed like an age. He sighed heavily, it was annoying to say the least nothing had happened nor did it look like anything was going to happen. He stood up to stretch his arms, everything felt so stiff from days of sitting on the same hard chair for hours on end. He leaned forward from where he was to peer through the small window into the cell. He smirked, the man they had beaten earlier was lying in the middle of the cell; they must have beaten him very well. He picked up his torch and leant in closer still, allowing the light to flow into the cell somewhat. Then he noticed something new; a trickle of blood falling from his neck.

The vampire had fed after all.

"Couldn't hold it back anymore, vampire?!" he chuckled into the darkness. But there was no reply…nor was there any sound coming from the cell at all. The hunter frowned and peered closer but the vampire was not there. "Vampire?!" he shouted but he was met with the echo of his own voice. He opened the cell door, he vaguely thought about calling for help but if the vampire was merely hiding in the corner then his superior would not appreciate the late night call. The cell door creaked open to reveal as he had suspected an empty cell. "Vampire?!" he called again.

"Yes?" he heard a voice say from above. He looked up and the last thing he saw was Raziel coming down from above.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

And boom the guard is dead ;) heh heh heh

Chapter 5

(Azrael)

I woke up well rested but still feeling as though I had been run over by a cart. My mind felt alert and ready for action but my entire body was heavy and unwilling to respond. I could tell that I was no longer in the prison cell of the Sarafan. Although it was still chilly with a certain nip in the air it was no longer damp, on top of that I felt as though I was lying on something comfortable as opposed to the harsh ground of the cell. I forced my eyes to open and found myself looking up at a wooden ceiling; relief washed over me as though I had sunk into a warm bath, we managed to get out after all.

"What are you smiling for?" I heard my companion mutter harshly. The sound of his voice was enough to jolt me out of my reverie and I sat up to look for him. I had not expected him to wait around for me, indeed it was only now that I appreciated that he had bothered to bring me with him, he could have escaped alone. I was surprised then that he had taken me with him but also that he should be here with me, he had no call to stay with me. "We're not out of it yet," he muttered.

I looked around and tried to determine where we were. It looked as though we were in an attic somewhere; the room was large yet empty. Out of the window I could see the skyline bright with the midday sun. My friend was sitting beside the window his eyes fixed on a point outside.

"Where are we?" I asked.

Raziel smirked, "Opposite the prison." I scrambled over to where he was and peered out of the window careful not to appear too fuly lest someone in the street saw me. We had hardly escaped at all we were in the building opposite the prison with guards rushing into the street in a continued search for us. "They know we've not gone far," Raziel sighed, "we have to move tonight or they will have found us. The only reason they haven't searched here is because the man who owns this shop claimed he would have seen us if we were here."

"Did he see us?" I asked, somewhat dreading the answer.

Raziel smiled darkly, "of course he did, but he won't say anything." I raised an eyebrow at his possibly misplaced confidence but he merely gestured for me to look behind me. I turned my head to look in the corner of the room I had not looked at before. In the corner was a small girl huddled as far away from us as possible, she looked at me with wide eyed fear and I couldn't help but feel pity for her. "His daughter," Raziel told me when my gaze returned to him, "he won't say anything while he thinks that I'll hurt her."

"Raziel! You can't keep her up here she's just a child."

Raziel looked puzzled, "I can see that but she's also the only thing keeping us hidden here for the moment. Don't look so worried, I'm not going to hurt her. Not while her old man keeps his silence at least."

"You wouldn't!" I cried, aghast but Raziel just shrugged.

"Maybe not; she wouldn't be a decent enough meal." I tried to determine whether he was joking or not but his humour was lost on me. At least I knew that if the worst did happen then maybe I would be able to convince him not to hurt her, in any case if the man did sell us out then we would be in too much of a hurry to escape than to worry about making good on threats.

"They know we're close," Raziel muttered watching another patrol return to base only to leave again in the opposite direction just a few moments later. "Getting out of here isn't going to be easy."

"Can't you call your friends to help?" I asked reasonably, wondering why he hadn't used the whisper before this.

"No," he said firmly, "it's bad enough that they're looking for me I'm not going to serve them others of my kind on a plate for them."

I nodded with understanding, "so…what's the plan?" I asked.

His lips curled into a thin smile, "wait for it to get dark and then run like hell."

We sat at that window not moving for the rest of the day. At one point the man from downstairs brought a tray of food for his daughter but offered me some of it, he also seemed concerned about the state I had been in the previous night which made me feel even more guilty about holding his daughter hostage for our own benefit. I ate well of the bread and cheese offered to me and started to feel a bit better for it. Neither of us had mentioned the fact that he had drained me to the point of losing consciousness the previous night, it didn't feel important to us. What mattered was that we had gotten out of that place and neither of us had any intention of going back there.

We watched the men run in the streets all convinced that we would not have been able to go far and so they were determined to find our hideout. Everyone who walked past was questioned and anyone who looked even vaguely suspicious was arrested for questioning. They seemed to have gone quite mad with paranoia in the belief that we would not have been able to escape from them as quickly as we had without outside help. Everyone was a suspect and we knew it was only a matter of time before they started searching buildings regardless of what influence with the mayor an individual may or may not have. Our haven would not remain so for long.

The sunset was quite beautiful and we watched it knowing that when the night came we would be forced to move out. We did not say anything to each other; there was no need we had sunk into an easy silence as two old friends or brothers would.

"I wonder what I'll do now," I muttered to myself watching the last rays of the sun vanish over the buildings. Raziel looked up at me as though I had spoken to him directly, "I can't go home," I offered, "not with them looking for me like this. My brothers' house is always an option, they would be happy to hide me. I never thought about it before now." Raziel nodded mutely and returned his gaze to the outside world. "What will you do?" I asked.

His reply came without hesitation or even consideration and I could tell that he had been mulling these things over and over in his mind. "I'll go back to my maker," he said, "I shall apologise for my arrogance and mistakes and then I shall continue to work for our cause. One day we shall rule Nosgoth."

I smirked, "Will you remember me then?

Raziel gave me a rare smile, "I imagine I will…after all it's not everyday I get thrown into prison." We both laughed at this and for a moment I even forgot that there was a child behind me wondering if we were going to kill her quickly or not.

The sky was starting darken without the sun to lighten it. Stars were starting to appear and the moon was growing brighter with the passing of the minutes. "How shall we do this?" I wondered aloud. Raziel was leaning slightly forward to get a better look at the streets. We would not get far before they spotted us, the streets were too open and sparse with people especially after hours.

"How are you with heights?" he asked me with a ghost of a laugh on his lips. If I had known that saying yes would have committed me to trying to escape along the roof tops in the pitch darkness I probably wouldn't have been so honest.

TBC


End file.
